Villa legend calls for Queen to spur on Villa

Shaun Teale reckons Aston Villa should unleash Queen on Capital One Cup kings Bradford to get Villa Park rocking like it was against Tranmere 19 years ago.

Teale still has vivid memories of Ron Atkinson’s claret and blues reversing a 3-1 deficit against lower league opponents to book a Wembley place in dramatic fashion.

The beaming smile beneath Teale’s trademark tash after he scored in a tumultuous second leg remains one of the enduring images of the tie back on February 27, 1994.

But Teale himself is reminded of a song associated with another moustachioued crowd-pleaser – Freddie Mercury – whenever he reminisces about the iconic match.

It was the track which used to be played before games at Villa Park and which became a rallying anthem from the terraces during the exciting days under Big Ron.

“My abiding memory was the Queen song ‘We will Rock You’ blasting out all game long!” recalls Teale, now 48.

“They should dig it out and play it again on Tuesday because the one thing that really stood out about that Tranmere game the atmosphere. I never played in front of a better atmosphere.

“The place was just bouncing from our end to their end. Don’t forget it was still the days of the old Holte where you had however many thousands jammed in. It was a massive day.”

Villa, of course, were trailing 3-1 from a desperate first leg at Prenton Park, but Dalian Atkinson’s last gasp lifeline goal gave them a glimmer of hope for the return fixture.

“The next day at training that was the one shining light out of the game,” remembers Teale. “The game was dissected into how badly we played and how well they played but the one thing that stuck out and Ron kept preaching to us was ‘We’ve got that goal and that will save us’.

Rollercoaster

“I think we actually went into the home game firmly believing we’d turn it over.”

And so it proved, but not before the 40,539 fans inside Villa Park had been taken on the biggest rollercoaster ride the famous old stadium has experienced in the past quarter of a century.

Dean Saunders struck first and when Teale headed in a second to level the aggregate score and give Villa, who had an away goal, the edge, the Twin Towers of Wembley were in sight.

Only that would have been too straightforward for Villa.

Instead Tranmere pulled a goal back from the penalty spot minutes later.

Yet the footballing fates were smiling on Villa as Mark Bosnich avoided a red card – a reprieve which was to prove crucial – and in the closing moments of the game that Dalian Atkinson headed the goal which took the tie to extra time and penalties.

Teale takes up the story. “We went into the game two goals behind and everybody thought ‘Oh no, we’re not going to go to Wembley’ and then Deano scores and I score the diving header and it goes barmy.

“That definitely settled our nerves, but then again they scored five minutes after that so I think everybody was on the edge of their seats again.

“There were so many swings and turns, we go two up and level on aggregate and then they get a penalty and Bozzie probably should have walked. That was to have a massive bearing at the end of the game, obviously.

“Dalian scores with two minutes to go then, Liam O’Brien hits in the inside of the post with seconds to go and it bounces out.

“Then we could have walked away from the penalties getting battered, because ours were worse than theirs and it was only the fact we had Bozzie in goal.”

Villa eventually, remarkably, deliriously emerged 5-4 winners in a penalty shoot-out with Teale converting his spot-kick and Bosnich producing heroics, before going on to lift the Coca Cola Cup at Wembley with a landmark victory over Manchester United.

Teale is still asked about it on his return visits to Villa Park today, almost two decades on.

“It was just one of those iconic games that will go down in Villa folklore,” he explains. “When I go back to Villa Park now to watch games I bump into normally every day Villa fans that sometimes you’ve never met in your life and the one thing they always say is ‘I was there on that day we beat Tranmere’. which sort of tells you a tale in itself.”

So what are Villa’s chances of summoning up the spirit of 1994 and overturning their 3-1 deficit against League Two Bradford in Tuesday’s second leg at Villa Park?

“I’ve got a theory that Bradford have had their day and they won’t be able to play like that again,” adds Teale.

“I think some of that might be proven from what happened at Crewe the other night where they got battered 4-1.

“I think we’ll end up winning quite comfortably and going through. My biggest fear then though is that everything gets focused on that and not surviving in the Premier League.”